I've been a Trek fan for my entire life; I've been through the good (First Contact, Star Trek 6, Deep Space Nine) the bad (Star Trek 5, Insurrection) and the ugly (Star Trek: Nemesis).
Each iteration of the series has at least attempted to hold onto the classic Star Trek formula: bigger-than-life villains, intellgent and thought-provoking writing, and characters that are more than cardboard cutouts and aliens in funny hats.
Star Trek: into Darkness meets and in some cases exceeds those criteria.
Synopsis:
As the movie launches, Kirk has been in command of the Enterprise for four years; an away mission on a pre-warp planet goes off the rails, and Admiral Pike strips Kirk of his command for violating the Prime Directive.
Meanwhile, somewhere in San Francisco, the operative of a super-secret research project goes rogue, and Starfleet's most decorated and capable captains are assigned to a manhunt. Unfortunately, their quarry is ahead of them and massacres the assembled Starfleet brass.
Kirk leverages the attack to regain his command, and Spock as his first officer. The Enterprise is outfitted with a payload of newly-developed photon torpedoes, and assigns Kirk to hunt the assassin down.
Little does Kirk know that there's much more to the mission, his target -- and the torpedoes -- than anyone on the Enterprise is aware.
Review:
Allow me to be candid: I have not been impressed with the Star Trek movie franchise of late. Insurrection was sappy and ineffective, Nemesis so bloated with visual effects that it crushed any drama the film might have contained into an unrecoverable mess (though I did like Riker's callback to Encounter at Farpoint).
With J.J. Abrams at the helm (as it were), all of that changed in an instant. Sitting in my theater seat for 2009's
Star Trek, I'll freely admit that I quite apprehensive about just how Abrams would handle the reboot of the 50-year-old entertainment juggernaut.
After watching
Into Darkness, I realize that I needn't have worried at all. He treats Star Trek with kid gloves, and seems intensely aware that if he screws things up, the fans will
never forgive him for it.
That's one of the things I like most about the J.J. Abrams reboot: he
respects the franchise, and he respects the fans that have invested most of their lives into the characters and the stories they tell.
Which brings me to the meat of my review: while watching
Star Trek was, as I've noted, a somewhat uncomfortable experience (simply because there's a new hand on the wheel),
Into Darkness is like coming home to family after a long winter away.
Chris Pine is spectacular once again, projecting an edge of vulnerability and a trace of anti-authority impatience onto his portrayal of Kirk. Karl Urban, back once again as the ever-irascible 'Bones' McCoy, gives McCoy and Spock's fledgling 'friendly rivalry' a nice return, while Spock is as unflappable as ever.
Zoe Saldana didn't get a lot to do this time around, but then again, Uhura is
always better when it's a low-key performance, and Saldana delivers all the way. And Simon Pegg, as Scotty -- well, let's just say that Pegg must've been channeling James Doohan's spirit, because his performance was a pitch-perfect recreation of the late actor's delivery.
As for the film itself: the script is loaded with references to
Trek canon, from the introduction of Carol Marcus to a certain secret agency that we all love to hate. One of Trek's most memorable villains returns, as well, and again, Abrams hit his mark -- the performance was
wonderfully downplayed, and didn't feel tacked-on or artificial.
Into Darkness was evenly paced, and while it was a bit awkward to find everything wrapping up as quickly as it did, that wasn't really a detriment; most of the time, we're watching nuanced, subtle character development, and the rest is a finely-tuned balance of action and drama.
Abrams clearly knows that his audience is 97% Trekkers; instead of bogging the movie down with lots of pointless, clunky exposition, he acknowledges that we probably already
know most of this stuff and just tries to tell the story as efficiently as possible.
Finally, there are references to the fact that this
is an alternate universe, including one role-reversed scene that revisits (quite powerfully) what was perhaps one of the most controversial and poignant
Star Trek moments ever filmed.
And no more of those blurry, eye-straining shaky-cam fight scenes!
Thank you, J.J. Abrams!
Final Score:
Writing: 9/10. Went by a bit too quickly. Could have used a moment to catch its breath.
Acting: 9/10. Solid performances, but soggy fight-scene choreography.
Directing: 10/10. J.J. Abrams understands the
Star Trek fandom, and it shows.
Cinematography: 10/10. Fewer lens-flares, and no shaky-cam fight scenes!
Overall: 9.5/10. Trek fans should watch it for the shout-outs to old-school Trek, non-Trek fans should see it for the well-scripted action scenes and snappy writing (and for the absence of shaky-cam fight scenes!
).
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